Influence of Annealing Temperature on Magnetoelectric Properties of CoFe2O4/Pt/Pb(Z(r0.3)T(i0.7)) O-3 Thin Films

CoFe2O4/Pt/Pb(Zr0.3Ti0.7)O-3 thin films were grown on Pt/Ti/SiO2/Si substrate in order to investigate the magnetoelectric properties of ferromagnetic/ferroelectric multilayer thin films. Thin Pt layer was introduced to prevent inter-diffusion between CoFe2O4 and Pb(Zr0.3Ti0.7)O-3 (PZT) layers. PZT thin film was grown directly on top of Pt substrate by utilizing sol-gel spin coating technique. In order to investigate the possible annealing effect on film microstructure and magnetoelectric properties, multilayer thin film stack was heat-treated at different temperatures ranging from 550 degrees C to 650 degrees C. The structural properties of the films were investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Ferroelectric and ferromagnetic behaviors were analyzed by measuring polarization and magnetization - electric and magnetic field hysteresis. Magnetoelectric coefficients were calculated by measuring magnetoelectric voltages using magnetoelectric measurement system. Both the magnetoelectric properties and the coupling effect of CoFe2O4/Pt/PZT films on ferromagnetic and magnetoelectric properties are discussed as a function of heat-treatment temperature.